


In the Wall

by FruityPebblezz



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Not sure if I wanna continue this, Other, Supernatural Elements, Unplanned Pregnancy, well kinda
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2020-02-27 04:45:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18731860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FruityPebblezz/pseuds/FruityPebblezz
Summary: Miss Pauling discovers that she's pregnant, but strangely, she has no memory of how this happened. As she and the mercenaries try to find answers, secrets become unveiled in the strangest of places.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I posted this on Tumblr but I don't know if I wanna continue it. It's a pretty dark story and a bit off-brand for me, so I would really appreciate feedback on this one and if you want me to keep writing it.

“I’m sorry…” Miss Pauling shook her head, still in complete disbelief. “What did you just say?”

“You are pregnant,” Medic repeated, very seriously. “And a bit far along, actually,”

“No,” she shook her head again. “No, I-I need to take the test again. Please,”

Medic just shrugged, handing her a cup. “Well, if you are so sure, you can take a second test,”

Miss Pauling took the second test without hesitation, her heart pounding although she knew it had to be a mistake. Yet when the results came back, they were the same: she was definitely, without a doubt, pregnant.

“Do you have any idea who the father is?” Medic wanted to know, keeping his voice gentle since he could see Pauling was still distressed. “Because if you do…”

“No!” Miss Pauling exclaimed, covering her face. “I-I haven’t been with any men! I’ve only been seeing girls and— and I don’t even have time for that anymore! I don’t get how this happened, this has to be a mistake or something. I can’t accept this!”

Medic put an understanding hand on her shoulder to comfort her. “Listen, it will be okay. Are you absolutely sure you didn’t—?”

“Yeah! I’m sure!” Pauling crossed her arms, looking away anxiously. “Something…something must’ve happened…” she paused, her eyes flicking up to glare at Medic. “…did you experiment on me?”

“What? No!” Medic looked almost appalled that she would even consider such a thing. “On you? Goodness, no! You know I respect you, Miss Pauling,”

Miss Pauling shook her head again, staring at the floor. “I swear…I swear I wasn’t with anyone who could…oh, God!” She broke down, covering her mouth as she began sobbing, her shoulders shaking.

“Oh, now, don’t cry,” Medic sighed, putting an arm around her and giving her a gentle hug. “I am here to help. What do you need?”

“I just…” she sniffed, looking embarrassed as she wiped her eyes. “Sorry, I…I need time, and I need to know how this happened!” She looked up at Medic, and then slipped her glasses back on. “This isn’t something that happens randomly, you know…and especially not to someone like me,”

Medic nodded, understanding. “Yes, of course. Well, to be frank, you could have gotten impregnated by mistake, that happens sometimes,”

Pauling raised her eyebrow. “How do you figure?”

“See, if you sat on a toilet seat that someone else has—!”

“No, no, no,” Pauling waved him off. “I really don’t think that’s possible,” she tried to think of any possible explanation. “I mean…I spent the night at that hotel a few months ago…do you think…?” She looked at the clock, and she huffed. “I have a meeting with the Administrator, actually. I gotta go soon,”

“Oh, well,” Medic cleared his throat, straightening up. “At least take some vitamins before you go!”

“I…” Pauling trailed off, turning to look at the handful of vitamins Medic held out to her. “Okay,” she took them with a glass of water, before grabbing her bag and turning to the door. “Thanks, Medic,”

“Anytime!” He called after her. “Just talk to me if you need anything!”

Miss Pauling headed out the door quickly, her bag thumping at her side, and she tried to ignore her feelings of anxiety and anger deep within. She didn’t understand how or why this had happened, and the worst part was she had no idea how to respond to it.


	2. Part 2

“Hi, sorry if I’m late,” Pauling sighed, sitting down across the desk from the Administrator. “I had to see Medic,”

“That’s fine,” The Administrator assured. “Do you have your reports?”

Miss Pauling nodded, retrieving them from her bag. “Yeah, right here,”

The two of them spent a few minutes going over the reports, and the Administrator gave Pauling another to-do list (there was always some kind of list, Miss Pauling had come to expect this by now). Yet, unlike many of their other meetings, Miss Pauling cleared her throat before the Administrator could dismiss her. “Um…Helen? There’s something I need to tell you,”

The Administrator paused, looking up from her papers with a confused expression. “…yes?”

Miss Pauling took a deep breath, shifting a bit in her chair before confessing, “I…I’ve been feeling sick lately, and I went to see Medic about it, and…I’m pregnant,”

When the Administrator stared blankly at her, Pauling went on, her voice cracking as she tried to explain, “I-I wasn’t sleeping around or anything, I swear! I haven’t been in a relationship or seeing anyone and even if I was I don’t even date men, so I have no idea how this happened to me! I-I-I don’t know what I’m gonna do or how I’m gonna–!” she broke off, babbling incoherently as if she were on the verge of a panic attack.

“Pauling, Pauling, darling,” the Administrator rose quickly from her chair, rounding the desk to help Pauling up and embrace her comfortingly. “Shh, it’s all right, dear. It’s okay,”

Well, this was certainly unexpected. Miss Pauling didn’t have the mental stamina at that moment to think properly, and all she could do was break down sobbing into that bony shoulder.

The Administrator was strangely tender as she rubbed gentle circles into the weeping younger woman’s back, and after a moment she whispered, “You are not alone—whoever did this to you is going to suffer severe consequences,”

Yeah, from me, Miss Pauling remarked internally, although she felt as though she couldn’t articulate that right now. All she responded with was, “Thank you,” in a shaky voice.

After a moment, Helen pulled back, reaching out her hand to wipe away Pauling’s tears. “Poor thing, you must be so scared. I will let you go about your business, now, but come to me if you need anything else,”

“Okay,” Miss Pauling took a deep breath, taking a moment to clean her glasses and push her hair back. “Thank you, Helen,”

“Of course,” The Administrator nodded, going back to her desk. “I would do anything for you, believe me,”

That was the first time anyone had said that to Miss Pauling, that she could recall anyway, and she almost broke down again but composed herself. She bid the Administrator goodbye, collecting her bag and heading out the door.

As she walked along to her scooter, she mentally went through every single interaction she’d had with a man over the past several months—and there had been many interactions, considering she worked with mostly men. Even so, she couldn’t think of a moment where anything like that could have possibly taken place…maybe she was the next Virgin Mary, carrying the reincarnation of the Messiah.

“Yeah, right,” Pauling scoffed to herself at the very notion, starting up the vehicle.

It wasn’t until she made it back to the base that she suddenly remembered something weird that had happened nearly five months earlier. She paused, clutching at her bag as she winced at the memory.

She could vaguely recall…waking up on her bedroom floor? She’d initially thought she’d fallen out of bed but…now that she was thinking about it, she wondered if something else had happened. But what? She slept alone, and nobody other than the Administrator had access to her room. But…Helen didn’t have anything to do with this. She couldn’t possibly, there was no way.

“Hey, Pauling!” a voice behind her chirped, and she knew who it was right away.

“Hey, Scout,” she sighed, only giving him a glance before turning to open the door. “How’s it going?”

“It’s goin’ okay,” Scout shrugged, following Pauling inside as he continued. “Sniper and I were out doing target practice, and he was tellin’ me about these conspiracy theories where…” he trailed off, getting a good look at Pauling’s face. “…Hey, are you okay?”

Pauling set her bag on the counter, smoothing her hair back. “I’m not feeling that great,” she admitted. “But I’ll be okay,”

Scout titled his head, clearly concerned. “Aw, what’s wrong? Listen, if you got a headache, I got some Tylenol in my bag,”

“No, no thanks,” Pauling waved him off. “It’s not a headache. I’d…rather not talk about it,”

“Oh…” Scout went quiet but nodded understandingly. “That’s okay. But, hey, I got your back if ya need anything,”

Pauling couldn’t help but smile at him, uncapping bottled water to drink. “Thank you,”

Scout smiled back at her, turning and leaving the kitchen. Miss Pauling leaned against the kitchen counter, taking a breath and trying to relax before she had to complete her next task.


	3. Chapter 3

A month went by. It seemed to go by rather quickly, and Miss Pauling tried her best to keep up with the work she was given. It wasn’t easy, and it was especially hard with the pregnancy and all.

Early on, Medic asked her if she wanted to terminate the pregnancy, and she told him she would think about it. Well, no decision was ever really made, and now that a whole month had gone by, there’s wasn’t much to be done about it. So, while Pauling was busy with contracts and paperwork and missions and such, she tried to accept the fact that she’d soon have a baby to deal with too.

She wasn’t exactly sure how to feel about it…she was, of course, still upset by the fact that she had no idea how she’d ended up this way in the first place, and on top of that, she had never even wanted a baby. She just couldn’t see herself as a mother, yet here she was, carrying another person inside her. How bizarre it all seemed.

Oddly, though, she developed a very strange ‘relationship’ with her unborn child. The baby began moving around, which really creeped out Pauling at first. It felt like an alien, but after about a week she became used to it.

She began talking to the baby too after a while, but not in the crooning way which mothers often use to talk to their babies. It was more like small talk, and sometimes she would even find herself having full-on, one-sided conversations with the baby.

“I remember my science teacher telling me once that a human being can fit a whole light bulb in their mouth without shattering it, but if they try to take it back out, then it shatters,” Pauling mused, all alone as she fished light bulbs out of a storage container. “Like, that sounds scary, but…don’t you almost wanna try it? I mean, not on myself, but…I wonder if that would work with a dead body?” she paused, thinking it over. “Actually…that might be a little screwed up to do that to a body, I—” she noticed the time on her watch, realizing, “Oh, shoot! I’ve been talking too much again,”

Her baby only kicked in response, but she didn’t mind. It just felt nice to have a conversation, even if it was with a literal baby who couldn’t really answer back.

It was during this time that Pauling started to look noticeably pregnant, and it wasn’t long at all before the mercenaries noticed. Medic already knew, of course, and Pauling didn’t have plans to tell the others, but when they began behaving strangely around her, she realized that they’d probably figured it out.

They were acting unusually polite and kind towards her (especially Engineer, she’d discovered, who would always offer her food and/or water, after she returned from missions), and while she knew they always held her in high respect, they behaved more gently whenever she was around. They never asked if she was pregnant, though, and she was rather grateful for that.

One day, though, Scout was the first to say something. He was not at all rude about it, but when Pauling stopped during a mission one afternoon to remove her shoe and rub her swollen ankles, Scout cleared his throat.

“So…” he began, trying to think of how to phrase what he wanted to say. “Are you…are you okay?”

“Hm?” Pauling looked up, switching from one ankle to the other. “What do you mean?”

Scout shrugged, hands in his pockets. “I mean, you’re busy at the time, and you go on these missions with us ‘n shit, and just…I dunno, is that good for you or whatever?”

“I don’t know,” she sighed, slipping her shoes back on. “But no condition of mine is gonna stop me from doing my job, you understand?”

Scout just nodded. “Oh, yeah. I get that,” He didn’t bring it up after that, but Pauling could feel him looking at her stomach more than once throughout the mission. She was too tired to reprimand him for it, though, and only went about her business as usual.

However, it was a Friday night where everything changed.

After a long day, Pauling returned to her quarters, where she changed into her pajamas and climbed into bed right away. It was late, and normally she would have gotten a proper shower before bed, but she was just too tired for it. Besides, she could do it in the morning anyway.

She curled onto her side, getting comfortable as she pulled the blanket over herself and settled in (she usually preferred sleeping on her stomach, but obviously she couldn’t do that anymore), and she prepared for sleep to take over, just as it always did on these nights.

Yet she was only in bed for a few minutes before she sensed a strange presence in the room. She opened her eyes, brow furrowing as she sat up, looking around in the darkness. There was nothing, but she turned the light on just to be safe. Still nothing.

“Hm,” she pursed her lips together, going to turn the light back off when she noticed something: there was a long, thin crack in the wall next to her, stretching from the ceiling to the floor.

Pauling found herself staring at the crack. Had it always been there? She had never seen it before…

Her tired body begged for sleep, so she obliged and got back under the covers, switching the light off.

It was then, though, that she heard an odd scratching from within the wall. She groaned, burying her face into the pillow. “Better not be rats…” she muttered, mostly to herself.

The scratching continued, although the more she listened, the more she realized that it almost sounded like human fingernails instead of claws.

Miss Pauling opened her eyes again, looking up towards the wall. Finally, after a few minutes, she got out of the bed, cautiously stepping over to where she heard the scratching and placing her hand on it.

Her baby started kicking again, but harder than they ever had before, and Pauling began feeling very uneasy. She studied the crack in the wall again, watching as dust flaked out from it and caked her fingernails. Was she dreaming? This felt very bizarre and dreamlike…maybe if she could pinch herself—

All of a sudden, there was a loud ‘bang’ from within the walls. Miss Pauling didn’t see what it was, but the pressure launched her backwards and onto the bed. It happened so quickly, and Pauling barely had to time to register what had happened. Gasping, she leaped from the bed, reaching for the gun she kept in her nightstand and aiming it at the wall, her hand shaking.

The crack had become even larger, now, and bits of paint had begun to peel around it. Pauling held the gun steady, and she snarled out, “I have a gun! Show yourself!”

There was nothing. Only a silence that lasted several moments, before Pauling took a deep breath to compose herself. She rubbed her eyes, sighing as she sank down on the bed.

“Maybe I’m losing it…” she murmured, holding the gun at her side as she turned to look at the cracked wall once more.

Something on the nightstand caught her eye, though, and she realized as soon as she saw it that it had not been there before. It was a tiny, wooden box, and when Pauling picked it up, it made a rattling sound.

Confused, she slowly opened it, turning on the light to get a better look.

Inside the box were two objects: a tiny baby rattle, and an envelope. Pauling could only stare both items, her heart pounding as she tried to make sense of all of this. She fished out the envelope, tearing it open and pulling a letter from it.

Her eyes scanned the letter. It was short, but…she read it multiple times. It made no sense, yet somehow, her mind started connecting the dots. “No, no…” she mumbled, blinking, her mouth hanging open in shock.

The phone rang, and it startled her very badly, but she still answered it anyway. “H-hello?”

“Oh, hello, Miss Pauling,” it was Spy. “I didn’t expect you to be awake at this hour. Listen, I was wondering if—”

“Spy, I need your help,” she cut in, her voice trembling. “I-I’m sorry, it’s just that—something happened, and I just…I don’t know, I just need someone here!”

There was a long pause before Spy replied, “All right. What happened?”

“I-I’ll show you,” she swallowed, staring back at the wall as she felt more uneasiness spread deep down. Her baby shifted, and she brought her hand over her belly to cradle it protectively. “Please, please I need you to believe me,”

“I will, I promise,” Spy’s voice was comforting, and he assured, “I will be there soon,”


	4. Chapter 4

“You’re sure it came from in here?” Spy wanted to know, running his hand along the cracks on the wall.

“Yes!” Pauling insisted, the letter still clutched firmly in her fist. “Yes, it threw me right onto the bed, too! I-I didn’t see whatever it was, but…it left this,”

She handed the letter to Spy, her hands shaking. Spy took the letter, unfolding it and squinting as he looked it over.

“A gift for the baby, a little rattle,” he read out loud. “I wish I could do more at the moment, but I hope you at least forgive me for putting you in this position so suddenly. Best of luck to you, you gracious woman. Love, Mary,” Spy’s brows furrowed, and he looked up. “Who is Mary?”

Miss Pauling wrung her hands together, and she sank down on the bed, trying to compose herself. “I think…I think this has to do with the Mary Albert story, which happened in this town,”

Spy looked confused, setting the letter aside and sitting beside Pauling. “Who is Mary Albert?”

“Mary Albert was a woman who got killed in a factory accident, I guess,” Pauling explained. “But there are stories from Teufort of her haunting people and doing…I don’t even know what. All I know is that she made toys for a nursery but couldn’t have kids herself, so…” she picked up the rattle, holding it up. “Maybe she left this? I dunno, is it crazy? Is it crazy to think there might be a ghost or something?”

“Not at all,” Spy assured, pocketing the letter. “But let us not jump to such a conclusion— there could be a perfectly rational explanation for all of this. For now, Miss Pauling, I do not feel as though it is safe for you to sleep in this room tonight. I have access to a spare room, if you would like to sleep there instead,”

Normally, Pauling would have questioned why Spy was able to get into a spare room in this building, but she didn’t have the mental energy to press him for answers, so she just nodded and followed him to the room.

Spy unlocked the door for her, and she murmured out a ‘thank you’ as she slipped in through the doorway.

“You’re welcome,” Spy nodded. “If you need anything, call,”

“Thank you,” Miss Pauling repeated, and she closed the door.

She got very little sleep that night, as the bed was unfamiliar and the blanket was itchy. At some point, she drifted off, but then reawoke to the feeling of her baby moving around again. Pauling adjusted herself, placing a hand against her stomach and taking a moment to feel their tiny movements.

After a moment, she whispered in the dark, “Where’d you come from?”

The next morning, Miss Pauling was exhausted, but still went about her business. It didn’t help at all that Medic had advised her not to drink caffeinated coffee during her pregnancy, so she was stuck with decaf and therefore didn’t have the caffeine to keep her energized. She tried not to think about it for long, though, and just went back to work.

A few hours into the day, she stopped for a break in the base kitchen, where she took a seat at the kitchen table and got a drink of water. Just as she was thinking about what her next responsibility was, Demo walked in with Pyro beside him.

“Aye, there she is!” He greeted cheerfully. “How are ya?”

Miss Pauling smiled up at him, rubbing her eye. “Oh, hey, Demo. I’m okay, I’m pretty tired,”

Pyro scurried over and gave Pauling a gentle hug, and she patted their shoulder in response. Demo took a seat at the table, taking a moment to study Pauling.

“Did you eat much yet?” He asked. “Ye look dead on yer feet, lass, if ya don’t mind me sayin’,”

Pauling waved him off. “I’m gonna break for lunch, soon. Don’t worry,” she paused to drink her water and then had a thought. “Hey, Demo— do you know anything about Mary Albert?”

Demo glanced up from the whiskey bottle he was uncapping, and he set the bottle to the side. “Yeah…ain’t that the ghost from here? She got offed at a factory or somethin’. Lads at the bar talk about her, but I ain’t down there a lot,”

“What do they say about her?” Pauling wanted to know, shifting to pat Pyro’s arm again when they nuzzled her affectionately. “Like, what have you heard?”

“Well…” he winced at the thoughts and then shook his head. “My memory ain’t the best. Sorry, Miss Pauling,”

“That’s okay,” Pauling assured. “But you at least know who she is,”

“Yep,” Demo confirmed, popping off the bottle cap and taking a swig.

“Okay, well, I— Hey!” Pauling jumped a little when she felt Pyro touching her belly, and she carefully put a hand on their chest to keep them at bay. “Hey, Pyro, please don’t do that, okay? You need to ask first,”

Pyro mumbled an apology, retracting their hand and staring down at Pauling’s midriff. They were virtually silent, and they seemed to be lost in thought before they turned away and trailed out of the kitchen.


	5. Chapter 5

It was starting to get cloudy outside when Sniper headed to the kitchen to boil some water for coffee. Normally, he would have made the coffee in his camper, but his own coffee pot hadn’t been working as it should have as of late.

Nothing was out of the ordinary besides this, so it was incredibly strange to Sniper when Scout approached, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist.

Sniper blinked, setting down the coffee pot. “Well…I wasn’t expecting this. You good, mate?”

All Scout said was, “There’s a woman in the shower room,”

“Hm?” Sniper frowned, tilting his head. “What do you mean?”

“I mean there’s some weird chick in the bathroom!” Scout sounded distressed, and he had a very panicked look in his eyes. “She was singin’ to herself and I think she saw me and I— it’s fuckin’ creepy, man!”

“Okay, calm down,” Sniper reassured, although he was sensing that something was very wrong here. “Is she still in there?”

Scout shifted uncomfortably, looking away. “I-I don’t…I got a weird vibe from her, I dunno! I saw her, and like…she was dressed in old-timey clothes and shit,”

“Hm,” Sniper turned away from the coffee pot and out the kitchen door, making his way to the showers while Scout trailed along.

Sniper opened the door to the shower room, poking his head in and looking around. Everything was silent, other than the sound of the fan humming right above their heads.

Scout started to speak. “I swear, I’m not making this shit up! I—!”

Sniper placed a finger against Scout’s lips to shut him up, and they exchanged brief eye contact before Sniper stepped forward and carefully inched into the room.

He glanced over the side of one of the stalls, looking into the bathroom area, and that was where he saw her.

She was older, perhaps in her forties, with her hair put up in a tight bun and tied with a ribbon. She was sitting in front of the mirror in the bathroom, applying lipstick all while acting as though her circumstance was totally normal.

Sniper watched her, and he felt a strange, panicked feeling the more he looked at her, as if even his body knew she was trouble. Nevertheless, he cleared his throat and attempted to be assertive.

“Uh, ‘scuse me, Miss,” he began, clearing his throat. “You, uh…you ain’t supposed to be here,”

The woman ignored him, and she set the lipstick down and reached for some mascara. She started humming as she did this action, and now Sniper was just annoyed. Scout, however, snapped first.

“Yo, lady!” Scout raised his voice, stepping forward. “You ain’t supposed to be here! No one is except us! Who even are you!?”

The woman paused, and she turned to look at Scout and Sniper for a moment. Suddenly, she smiled, and it was then that Sniper’s heart dropped: she had no reflection in the mirror in front of her.

Scout must have noticed it too because Sniper could practically feel the younger man’s heart rate pick up from behind him. Sniper balled his fist, lowering his voice as he asked, “What the hell are you?”

She continued smiling, and then she broke into a wispy giggle before she vanished. Her disappearance was quick, too— it happened so suddenly, and it was as if she was never there at all.

Neither man spoke for a long time. Finally, after nearly a minute, Scout turned away, shaking his head vigorously as he started pacing. “I ain’t crazy, I ain’t crazy, I ain’t crazy…” he repeated, pacing as he wrung his hands while staring wide-eyed at the bathroom tiles.

“Hey, hey, I saw it, too,” Sniper assured. “And we’re gonna tell someone about it, okay? That’s what we’re gonna do,”

“Okay…yeah,” Scout nodded in agreement, adjusting his towel to keep it from slipping. “Yeah, call the frickin’ paranormal investigator people! Or whatever they’re called,”

Sniper shook his head, turning and walking towards the door. “Nah, not yet. I was thinkin’ someone different,”

Over half an hour later, Sniper had managed to pull Miss Pauling aside, and he explained the whole situation to her. She listened to him quietly, and once he was finished, she cleared her throat.

“So, she just…disappeared?” Miss Pauling wanted to know, sitting down on a nearby crate to ease her aching back.

Sniper nodded. “Yeah. It was like out of a damn movie, I swear,”

Miss Pauling reached for her folder, opening it and fishing out an old photograph. “Tell me: did she look like this?”

Sniper took the photo into his hand, and he could only stare at it in awe. “I…yeah, it is. How did you…?”

“Had a hunch,” Pauling replied briskly, taking the picture back and tucking it away. “Thanks, Sniper,”

“You’re welcome, I guess…?” Sniper was rather confused as he watched Pauling rise up from the crate and turn to leave. “Hey, everything okay?”

Miss Pauling turned to look at him, one hand gripping the folder and the other laying idly against her midriff. “Not really,” she replied. “But thanks for asking,”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pauling finally confronts Mary and (sort of) learns the truth.

Miss Pauling went back to her quarters once she’d completed all her immediate tasks, and she settled upon her bed, crossing one leg over the other. She faced the crack in the wall and did not take her eyes off it as she took the wooden box and held it up.

“Okay, Mary,” she began, trying not to let her voice crack. “I know you’re here, now. You can quit hiding from me,”

Pauling stared at the wall, and there was only a long silence. Just as she started to think that maybe she was incorrect about her little theory, a voice from behind her nearly scared her to death.

“Well, it’s about time she tried to talk to me, dear!”

Miss Pauling jumped, spinning around to face the woman. It was Mary all right, and she was hovering just a few feet off the ground. Despite the levitation, she looked as though she was still alive, but Pauling knew full well that she wasn’t.

Before Pauling could speak, though, Mary dropped to the floor and made her way to the bed, sitting beside Pauling and smiling pleasantly at her. “It’s so nice to see you face to face for once,” she reached out and touched Pauling’s arm, although the touch felt chilled and barely there. Mary went on, “It’s been a long, few months since I was this close to you, you see, and may I say that you look absolutely glowing?”

Pauling found her voice again, and she straightened up, taking a deep breath. “I just…I just wanna know what you want from me, okay? I know you’re a ghost or whatever, but it’s irresponsible of me to let you stay here on this base. Do you understand?”

Mary just frowned. “Oh, please. I’m dead! What do you expect me to do, anyhow? Those people down in the town are boring to haunt, they’re all so…bland. This town has always been bland, but—”

“Just answer me one thing,” Pauling cut her off, and when she had Mary’s attention, she simply pointed to her own stomach. “Are you…? Are you responsible for this?”

Mary stared at her for a moment, before she cracked a sly smile. “Oh, dear. Are you referring to the gift I gave you?”

“You mean this?” Pauling held out the wooden box, and she opened it to reveal the rattle. “That’s how I found out it was you living in my damn wall! And you said—”

“No, no, dear,” Mary gingerly placed a hand on top of Pauling’s stomach, caressing it lovely. “This gift; the little baby growing in your belly,”

Pauling felt her heart drop. Her lips parted, and she inched away from Mary slowly. “You…you really…? But how did you…?”

Mary only smiled. “Darling, did you know that deceased spirits can divide pieces of our souls?”

Miss Pauling just shook her head. She was starting to feel somewhat dizzy.

“Well, I gave you a piece of my soul,” Mary explained casually as if she were discussing the weather or something minor. “You don’t remember, you were barely awake, but one night I removed a bit of my soul and put it in your womb,” she reached out to touch Pauling’s belly again, but Pauling covered it protectively. “Don’t worry, it’s your baby, but it’s a part of me, too, you see?”

Pauling wanted to throw up, scream, or kill Mary—could a ghost even be killed? Was that even possible? She tried to resist the urge to grab her gun, and instead tried to rationally sort this out, even though the situation was anything but rational.

“Okay, but I didn’t…” Pauling swallowed, trying to control herself. “I didn’t ask for this,”

Mary shook her head. “No, dear. You did ask,”

Miss Pauling shot up, her hands balled into fists, and she shouted, “When!? When did I fucking ask to get knocked up, you crazy dead bitch!? I never asked for this! I never wanted a baby!” her eyes began welling up, and before she could control it tears began pouring down her cheeks. She covered her face with one hand, mouth scrunched up as she tried to hold back her sobs. She felt so pathetic, all she could do was cry.

Mary rose up, gently taking Pauling into her arms and bringing her down to the bed, cradling her as if she were a child. Pauling hated her, she hated her so much, but she held herself back and didn’t fight the embrace. Would physical fighting even work on a ghost?

“There, there,” Mary crooned sweetly, brushing the wisps of hair from Pauling’s forehead. “That’s just your hormones talking, darling. Listen to me: when I first came here, many months ago, I noticed you were lonely. You felt sadness a lot, didn’t you?”

Miss Pauling tugged herself away from Mary, wiping at her eyes. “Y-yeah, so? Of course, I get lonely sometimes, but it’s because I have a lot of work to do,”

“I understand,” Mary nodded, folding her hands on her lap. “But that’s why I wanted to give you a gift, a piece of me, and from the moment I saw you, I felt you deserved it,”

“I…” Pauling tried to think of a response, but she found herself shaking her head. “No, no…a baby is…different, okay? It’s not like having a friend or a partner, or anything like that. They’re a lot of work, and I already have a lot of work to do, do you understand?”

Mary sighed, rolling her eyes. “Oh, come. Don’t pretend you’re not grateful—”

“Oh, my God, are you dumb!?” Miss Pauling felt herself getting agitated all over again. “I’m not grateful! I can’t have coffee or alcohol, and my back’s constantly hurting! Why should I be grateful!?”

“You are grateful, deep down,” Mary continued, her voice still calm and even. “I hear you talking to the baby a lot, you tell her all kinds of things,”

Miss Pauling paused, brow furrowing. “You…you heard all that?”

“Yes,” Mary nodded. “And the baby listens to you. I can read her thoughts, she recognizes you already,”

The baby shifted, and Miss Pauling suddenly wasn’t sure how to feel. “It’s…it’s a girl?”

“Oh, yes,” Mary replied, her tone sweet and low. “And she’s going to be so beautiful, I can tell,”

Miss Pauling broke eye contact with Mary, preferring instead to gaze at the floor. After a few seconds of thinking, she cleared her throat, looking back up. “Okay, but…listen, you did something very wrong, do you understand? I know you wanted to help me, I guess, but…”

She trailed off, suddenly realizing that Mary was not there. Pauling stood up, glancing all around the room, but there was no trace of Mary.

She turned to look back at the wall, seeing that the crack there was slowly getting larger by the day. She placed her hand on it, taking a deep breath before turning towards her private bathroom, opening the door and stepping in.

As Pauling waited for the water to heat up for her shower, she pondered everything that Mary had said as she stared up at the ceiling.

“It doesn’t make sense,” she mumbled, settling her chin in her hand as she thought about it. “I don’t know her…there has to be more to this that I’m not seeing. I need to talk to someone about this, but who?”

She reached over to the radio, switching it on, only to hear some very familiar music. “Oh, Tom Jones,” she commented, shrugging and leaving it on when she felt the baby stirring again.

“Ah, yeah,” Pauling couldn’t help but chuckle a bit, picking up the radio and gently pressing it to her stomach. “Do you hear that? That’s Tom Jones. Scout likes him a lot—you know Scout, he’s the guy who shouts all the time. Well, actually that could be any of them, ha,”

She had to admit; it was creepy but almost kind of charming how the baby responded to the music. The feeling made her mind wander, and as she stepped into the shower, the answer suddenly came to her.

“Merasmus,” she nearly gasped, pausing with a bottle of shampoo in her hand. “I could ask him…he might know about ghosts! But…how am I going to talk to him?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you've been enjoying this story so far, I've put quite a bit of thought into it. Let me know what you think of it right now, feedback is always appreciated.


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